March 10, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 10.03.2014, 19:04
Romania’s Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean met on Monday in Kiev with Ukraine’s interim president Olexandr Turcinov and with Prime Minister Arseni Iateniuk. President Turcinov has expressed his gratitude for the support Romania has been granting Ukraine, while PM Iateniuk thanked Minister Corlatean for Romania’s stand towards Ukraine and for granting medical assistance to several Ukrainian citizens injured during the violence in Kiev. Corlatean also met with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andri Descita. The two officials signed a security accord between the two countries. The meeting’s agenda also included the issue of the Romanian community in Ukraine, which numbers more than 400,000 people. Bucharest believes that Ukraine has to implement the European protection norms of minority rights under all their aspects, the linguistic rights included, and that on their observance depend the neighboring country’s stability and territorial integrity.
The new Speaker of the Romanian Senate is the former prime minister and Liberal leader Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, who has recently resigned the National Liberal Party. Tariceanu is supported by the coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party, the Conservative Party, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. Tariceanu took over the post left vacant last week by the leader of the Liberals, Crin Antonescu. The government headed by the Social Democrat Victor Ponta on Tuesday will take responsibility in Parliament for their new political programme. The programme has been criticised by the opposition, who deems it improvised and unable to offer solutions to the problems of Romania’s economy.
Navy forces of Bulgaria, Romania and the United States on Tuesday will conduct a joint military exercise in the international waters of the Black Sea, according to the Bulgarian Defence Ministry. The exercise is aimed at increasing interoperability among NATOs navy units and at improving the staff’s training.
The national education systems need to be reformed so that young people can acquire the abilities necessary get a job, European Commissioner for Education, Androulla Vassiliou said on Monday. The European official is on a 2-day visit to Bucharest to discuss education and the employment opportunities of Romania’s young people. She is also launching Erasmus Plus, the EU’s revamped funding programme for education, training and sports. 120,000 young Romanians may benefit from education grants under this programme in the next 7 years. Erasmus Plus not only provides grants for students, but also finances training programmes for teachers and people doing voluntary work. The programme’s budget in the 2014-2020 period stands at almost 15 billion euros. This year, Romania may benefit from around 50 million euros.
